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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22369723">They Say That The Road Ain't No Place To Start A Family</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/vvalormorghouliss/pseuds/vvalormorghouliss'>vvalormorghouliss</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Found Family, Gen, Good Dad Geralt, Good mom Yen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, They just love each other and their daughter ok?, Yen is on the road with Geralt and Ciri, let them be happy, mess of book and TV cannon bc I cant keep my shit straight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:01:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,943</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22369723</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/vvalormorghouliss/pseuds/vvalormorghouliss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He bolts awake to the sounds of distress and rapid movement. His first thought was that someone was trying to take Ciri, but upon further inspection, Geralt saw that the girl was awake and fearful, but not of someone attempting to harm her. She was backed up against the wall, curled in on herself, gazing in horror upon Yennefer.</p><p>Family travels result in some nasty nightmares, opening up about trauma, and the shared love for a daughter.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon &amp; Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon &amp; Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>343</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>They Say That The Road Ain't No Place To Start A Family</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This might be the worst thing I've ever written but I needed to procrastinate from studying for midterms somehow! Hope you enjoy! xxx</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>He bolts awake to the sounds of distress and rapid movement. His hand darts to the ground beside him where he left his knife and he looks up from his bedroll on the ground towards the small bed where Yennefer and Ciri had fallen asleep the previous night. His first thought was that someone was trying to take Ciri - she didn’t know enough to fight a bounty hunter off. Upon further inspection, Geralt saw that the girl was awake and fearful, but not of someone attempting to harm her. She was backed up against the wall, curled in on herself, gazing in horror upon Yennefer, who was kicking out and murmuring something that Geralt could not understand. Sparks were flashing from her hands; her heightened emotional state causing her brain to strike, even while unconscious. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stood up and walked quickly but quietly towards the bed. His first priority was Ciri; she had already been scarred beyond her years and he could see how much pain seeing her pseudo-mother’s weakened state was causing her. He was used to Yennefer’s night terrors, but their ward was not. Ciri visibly relaxed as soon as she saw him getting up. He still did not fully understand the extent of which they were linked, but they were intertwined and his love for her was unparalleled. He lifted her up over Yennefer’s thrashing limbs and placed her down on the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Here came the difficult part: He didn’t even want to entertain the idea of leaving her alone, but he knew Yennefer would not be willing to discuss anything within earshot of Ciri. The inn was essentially empty - just the three of them and the barkeep - but Geralt still had to fight the primal part of his brain screaming at him not to leave his Child Surprise alone for a moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ciri,” he started, “Go sit outside. If anyone touches you, scream until I get you there.” His hand was on her shoulder, and he looked into her sleep-blurred eyes with such intensity that he was worried he would frighten her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shouldn’t have worried - she had inherited every bit of her grandmother’s stubbornness and was beginning to pick up on his ways to get what she wanted. “But Lady Yennefer-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Cirilla</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” he growled, shaking her. “I have got her, and I will make sure she is fine, but I need you to tell me you understand. Don’t move from the door. Scream if anyone even tries to lay a finger on you, and if for whatever reason I can’t get to you, run and don’t look back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Geralt, what do you mean if you </span>
  <em>
    <span>can’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> get to me?” She was properly scared now, but he didn’t have the time to ease her mind. He was concerned Yen would light something on fire or release enough magical energy to draw someone to their location.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His expression softened slightly, however, and he squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll always come for you, Ciri, but Yen needs me more right now. All three of us will be fine, I just worry about you. Okay? Stay here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded, offered him a watery smile, and sat down outside the door, knees tucked to her chest. He gave her what he hoped to be a reassuring nod before shutting the door and rushing over to where Yennefer was now writhing. He kneeled beside her, placing one hand on her forehead and the other on her shoulder, gently shaking her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wake up, Yen. It’s just a dream. I’m here, and Ciri. You’re safe, we all are.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sprung forward suddenly, a pulse of magic throwing him backwards as she tried to catch her breath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where is Ciri?” she exclaimed, attempting to clamor out of bed to look for her daughter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s outside resting. I told her to call if she needed anything,” he reassured her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She faltered when she saw him gingerly picking himself up off the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Geralt…” Yennefer whispered. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, I swear…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s alright, Yen. I’m fine,” he assured her as he walked towards her again, sitting on the edge of the bed. He waited for an indication from her that he could touch her; sometimes after these dreams she would recoil from touches as if they were burns. She grabbed his arm as if it were a lifeline, prompting him to pull her closer to him. They stayed like that for a few minutes, her head resting on his chest, listening to his mutated heart pump slowly. He stroked her hair, running his finger lightly over her scalp while he waited for her to talk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I dreamt that Ciri was raised in Vendenberg, as I had been, with my parents treating her as they treated me…” she trailed off. “No child should live like that. I used to think I deserved it but now that I have Ciri…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Geralt tightened his arm around her. He understood - he had never known why Vesemir had sat by his bedside while he was recovering from his second set of trials or why Yen so longed to be a mother. But then he met Ciri, and he loved her so much that it</span>
  <em>
    <span> hurt</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and he knew that he would carry the weight of the world on his bare back for the rest of his life to keep her safe. He had experienced what he thought to be love before - his brothers at Kaer Morhen, Vesemir, Jaskier. Then Yennefer, blindingly beautiful, who took off with his heart before he had a chance to process what had happened. Never did he think he would ever meet anyone who trumped the love he had for her. Until Cirilla - a wisp of a thing with hair to match, stubborn and sweet, and the unprecedented keeper of his heart. He adored her more than he thought her was capable of. She was his and he was hers - if there was one thing he was one-hundred percent sure of in the world, it was that. He knew Yen felt the same way about her - she had wanted to be a mother as long as he’d known her and he’d never seen his lover light up as much as when she saw Ciri.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s had a tough life already, Geralt, and the two of us are so screwed up - what if we pass that on to her? I could never forgive myself,” she said, muffled by his shirt of which she had buried her head into.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t speak for your childhood, Yen, but you’ve turned out just fine. You’re strong and brilliant and gorgeous and a perfect person for her to look up to,” Geralt replied. He knew very little about Yennefer’s upbringing - just that her parents weren’t particularly nice people, that she had a hunchback, and that she attempted to end her life when she first arrived at Aretuza. The latter was coaxed out of her one late night as he traced over the scars she had chosen to keep on her wrist. “To remind me,” she had told him, “that I’ve survived.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulled her head back from his chest. “Do you trust me?” she asked, bringing a hand to his temple.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Always,” he said, closing his eyes. He felt her presence enter his mind, a bright light in a sea of darkness. Then he was hit by it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A tidal wave of 20-odd years of her early life erupted into his head in flashes; her faintest memories of her father, when her mother still loved her, the arrival of her step-father, the abuse she suffered at his hand. He felt red-hot pain, the feel of a switch over his back, filling him with rage and anger and admiration for Yen all at once. He saw school boys pulling her behind a shed on their way home from school, felt her desperation and fear and all he wanted to do was maime anyone who’d ever raised a hand to her. Next, her father selling her to Tissia, and her life at Aretuza. The procedure she underwent, serving at court, her life on the run; all compiled into a short flash. Then, there he was, viewing himself from her perspective. For the first time since she had entered his mind, Geralt felt heat. A burning hot passion that wrapped it’s tendrils around everything. Finally, Ciri, and a warmth exploded in Yen’s memories. Sights were brighter, noise was amplified, and a flood of pure and unconditional love leaked out of every part of those memories. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yennefer released her hold on his brain, and he pulled her into a suffocating embrace that he had no intention of stopping. She melted into him, her lips pressed into the crook of his neck. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You,” he stated, “are the strongest person I’ve ever met and you deserve the world and more.” He thought for a moment. “And,” Geralt growled, “if anyone ever touches you again, I’ll ring them with my sword and take out their organs in alphabetical order.” She chuckled at that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He felt the urge to give her something back, and brought her hand back to his temple. She opened her mind and he projected the major events of his life into her head. Visienna leaving him at Kaer Morhen, training with Vesemir and Eskel, the excruciating pain of the trials, and setting off on the Path. Meeting Jaskier, her, and Triss, and then the bombshell of a Child of Surprise. At long last, Ciri’s bright laughter rang throughout their minds - their initial meeting, travelling on Roach with her slumped, asleep, on his back, and reuniting with Yennefer. He tried to show how much they meant to him - it was as if he had seen in black and white his whole life, and he had met his girls and could finally see in color.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Geralt pulled back tentatively, hoping he had not overstepped his boundaries. She tsked him before bringing him back into an embrace. He sighed, inhaling the scent of lilac and gooseberries, letting it sink in before releasing her again. “I’ll go get Ciri so you two can sleep,” he said, standing up and stretching. Yennefer nodded and moved back towards the wall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ciri was barely awake when Geralt went to retrieve her. He picked her up, her arms wrapping around his neck as she rested her cheek on his shoulder. He pulled off her cloak and boots before placing her gently beside Yennefer. The girl snuggled up the Yennefer, her back to the older woman’s chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mama,” she sighed, floating between consciousness and sleep. Yennefer froze for a moment before a smile bloomed on her face and she began to run her fingers through Ciri’s hair, wavy after being let loose from the plait it had been bound in all day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sleep, my darling. I’m here,” she whispered, kissing her to crown of her head. Geralt made to lay back down on the bedroll until he heard Yennefer scoffing at him. “There’s plenty of room up here, dearest,” she mocked, shooting him a glance that told him he had no say in the matter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grumbling dramatically, he stood up and leaned over the bed to kiss Yennefer’s forehead before dropping one to Ciri’s. He lay down facing Ciri so that the girl was sandwiched between him and Yen. Ciri sighed, content, and wrapped a fistful of Geralt’s cotton shirt in her fist, tugging him closer. He lay an arm over her and Yennefer and closed his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There they slept, and they did not dream. The three awoke to the smell of freshly fried bacon and the promise of a new day.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Title from Journey's "Faithfully"<br/>Comments and kudos make this tired student smile :) Hope you enjoyed this piece as much as I enjoyed writing it!<br/>find me on tumblr @wowshesbriliant</p></blockquote></div></div>
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